Hello, everyone, and this is our very first Weekly Update post where I give you what's happening in the past, present and future. Now first things first, we start with the past.
The Past:
Last week became exciting because I get to watch some events, including the elephant in the room, Frosty Faustings XIII Online. The event was relegated into an online format because of the pandemic. An interesting part is, that I get to watch the Skullgirls online tourney. It has ended with the reveal of Annie's gameplay in 2nd Encore. In case you're wondering if I'm excited for her, heck yes, I'm very hyped for her and hyped to assign her to Justice Sword.
At the end of the Annie gameplay reveal, they have comfirmed that a 16th character after Annie is in the works. But it is a mystery. If the 16th character is revealed to be Ajna from Indivisible, it'll be a huge miracle because not only it'll remember that fact that Indivisible's development has ended because of Lab Zero Games' dissolution caused by MikeZ's behavior. It's also because Conciliation is perfect for her. Also, if you look at the blank slot next to the one with question mark, it suggests that a 17th character might also be in the works.
I really thought that Skullgirls is dead because of the fiasco MikeZ has created, but I'm glad the development of Skullgirls continued despite that incident. It's because Autumn owns the IP, not Lab Zero. I'll be looking forward to playing Annie in 2nd Encore. She is out now on the mobile spin-off. They also said that Annie will come out early on PC as an Early Access phase and they are gonna tune her up some more, based on player feedback before getting her to consoles. My feedback is giving her a Lv. 5 super.
The sad part in the past is hearing that the Paladins esports scene has come to a discontinuation this year. It has been a while since the Paladins World Championship was wrapped up and done and we've been wondering what are their plans for Paladins esports this year.
Unfortunately, it's official that the esports scene will be discontinued this year. According to their blog post, their goal for 2021 is to give Paladins meaningful development as a game. It's not COVID-19's fault that the esports scene has been discontinued, it's the fact that with the shift from 3-week Battle Pass cycles to 2-week Event Cycles, map reworks, several champions and a ton of other updates in store, they are focusing on polishing Paladins as a whole. I'm a bit disappointed to see that, but it's for the better since they have a main focus on improving and fixing bugs, which turned out well because of the removal of the 3rd person view, Play of the Game and the killcam.
For those who wanted to be in the competitive spirit of Paladins, the community tournaments are still being supported, though they aren't as big as the esports scene since it has been discontinued this year. Also, the SMITE esports scene will continue this year. I'll be looking forward to seeing them again.
And speaking of SMITE, Season 8 came out with a huge player spike, causing the servers to act erroneous. The devs of Titan Forge have resolved that issue and we can play just fine and I keep grinding my Battle Pass, targeting towards Bunny Bomber Aphrodite before the next one comes out in March and stealing someone's thunder won't be a tolerant.
As I said before, the esports scene of SMITE lives on this year for Season 8, which can either be run online or safely on LAN due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Present:
Now we go to what's happening now. This morning, Paladins and Rogue Company have their updates out. They come with new characters, Yagorath and Kestrel. I tried both of them out and they are fun, as well as their passes. There isn't much to do currently at this point. On the Paladins side of things, the new patch came out and the servers aren't acting erroneous, like the Season 8 release in SMITE. I also get to try Yagorath and she is basically a large Champion, like SMITE's Jormungandr.
There is a few caveats on Yagorath. Similar to Jormungandr from SMITE, she can't be knocked back or carried by enemies. Instead, she will be stunned. Because Yago is a large Champion, she can't ride a horse, buy Nimble nor Master Riding and uses a stance that transforms her into a giant wheel. Originally, she was supposed to be our final Season 3 Champion, but apparently, she is our very first Season 4 Champion.
In terms of lore, to defeat Yagorath, not only the Paladins and the Magistrate must team up and fight together as one to fight the giant female worm, new Champions this year will also join in the fight and the next one is coming in Q1 of this year. The datamining indicates that the next one is a 5th black Champion in the works and it's a female.
On the SMITE side of things, the Update Show is coming up shortly and they are gonna showcase the newest and the first Babylonian God, Tiamat, to come this month as our first Season 8 God, as well as a bonus update. She is supposed to be a flexible Mage and is proven to be out of this world.
The Future:
Alright, this is the time to talk about the future. There is a ton of future topics, but I'll just outline the interesting things. First up is the elephant in the room, the COVID-19 vaccines. They are an important tool to end this pandemic once and for all. The effort to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19 turned out well and has done in record time. It's because of Joe Biden's executive order in vaccinating 100M Americans in his first 100 days in office. It hasn't been 100 days yet. However, the vaccination work is still a ways off because it's currently in phase 1. So remember, if you get vaccinated, keep wearing a mask and avoiding crowds. It's the only way to end this pandemic.
2020 became a devilish year because that's the time when the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic has first started and it killed 350,000+ Americans and they had to be relegated. Luckily, 2021 is the year when we experience a glimmer of hope.
I was told that this pandemic will be over in the summer time. And once it is, everybody can get back to their workplace, get back together with their loved ones, start back hosting in-person tournaments and lift the restrictions. In fact, once this pandemic is over, I plan to take my parents to eat at my local buffet as a celebration to celebrate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plus, there is a third vaccine in the works, awaiting approval by the FDA. According to their research, the Johnson & Johnson vaccines have outstanding results. They are effective at preventing deaths and hospitalizations, require one shot and they don't need to be stored in a special fridge. In fact, they are so potent that they will trigger herd immunity faster.
Next up is regarding gaming. I'll have a topic about the game that has an update two days ago, Genshin Impact. Genshin Impact is a free to play gacha game that uses elemental-based combat, taken place at Teyvat. I never played it, but from the looks of it, it is basically a free-to-play MMO-style Trials of Mana, but it doesn't have light, darkness, moon and wood elementals or something like that, though it would be great if it does in the future. I plan to get Genshin Impact, but I'm gonna get the PS5 version as soon as I get one. The update came out two days ago. and it brings a new character, Xiao.
Now we touch up on the last interesting topic regarding the future. Remember what I told you about using the wheel to help me decide? I'm gonna give you an update on my wheels.
An update on the Wheel of Champions is simple. Yagorath, Paladins' newest Front Line Champion has been added, to better be in line with Jormungandr on my wheel of Gods. There is one more Champion left in the initial phase to replace the ??? placeholder. I'll give you a hint. It's another Season 4 Champion. I already have the initial God wheel settled, but I can't add any more Gods until I get that degree done.
The wheel of Rogues now have 11 Rogues. I can add more Rogues before doing the degree, but there is one more Rogue left to be added, making it to 12, before the test. I'll give you a hint. It is a male Rogue.
This concludes this week's update. As always, stay healthy and stay safe.
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